1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to mat structures useful not only as flooring for animal caging but also as surfaces locatable in the vicinity of a pet litter box and on which a pet exiting the box will walk over the mat structure to dislodge litter particles from the pet's paws, the dislodged litter particles being collectible on the mat structure for return to the litter box. The mat structures of the invention also find utility in other use environments for facilitating dislodgement of debris from the feet of users walking over or contacting surfaces of the mat structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pets commonly trained to use litter boxes include cats, ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and the like, litter boxes usually containing absorbent, fine granular particles typically formed of clay or other mineral matter, organic materials such as leaf mulch, wheat by-products and other cellulosic materials and synthetic materials formed into fine granules. Unavoidably, these fine-grained particles tend to adhere to or become lodged within various portions of a pet's paws such as between the digits, on the pads of the paws or on or in fur or hair surrounding the paws. On exiting a litter box after use, the pet invariably carries litter particles various distances from the litter box with the result that the particles dislodge in environmental spaces remote from the litter box and particularly on and in rugs and the like in living areas, thereby creating unpleasant and potentially unhealthy conditions.
Solutions to this problem have previously been addressed such as by placement of mats in proximity to a litter box in an egress path, these mats being variously formed of materials such as “artificial turf”, rug-like swatches formed of fibrous materials used either with or without rubber-like coatings or of natural or synthetic elastomeric materials having tread surfaces variously formed such as with elongated raised elements such as fibrous “tufts”. As one example, Link et al, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,143, disclose a litter mat intended for disposition next to a litter box and having upper surfaces formed of spaced, triangular-in-section ridges, the apices of which contact a pet's paws to facilitate dislodgement of litter particles onto the mat rather than on flooring surfaces remote from the litter box. According to Link et al, litter particles dislodged from a pet's paws and held between the ridges can be recycled. Ebert, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,352, discloses a litter mat intended for disposition next to a litter box, the litter mat having a tread surface formed of angled and parallel ridges intended to facilitate removal of litter particles from a pet's paws by deformation of the ridges, litter particles being held in elongated channels between the ridges for return to the litter box or for other recycle. Marr, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,255, and Semenuk, in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 383,253, disclose flooring for animal caging having openings formed in resilient matting capable of trapping granular and other waste particles.
The prior art has failed to provide a litter mat or flooring for animal caging that is suitably amenable to a pet's need to walk on a relatively familiar, comfortable surface and which is configured to passively dislodge litter particles and the like from the pet's paws through not only contact between the paws and structure formed on tread surfaces but also due to flexure of the mat caused by the weight of the pet, the structure of the present mat being so configured for such functions while providing a familiar surface on which the pet chooses to walk on rather than jump over. Litter particles dislodged from the pet by the cooperative interaction of the present mat and the pet are trapped by the mat structure in preferred embodiments and are collectible centrally of the mat for ease of return of the particles to a litter box. The present litter mat is further configured from particular materials that facilitate cleaning by a simple water spray or by dislodgment of dried waste by flexure of the mat. The present litter mat therefore finds solutions to long-felt needs in the art.